FAYETTEVILLE — The race is on in the SEC West.

Arkansas stayed within striking distance of Mississippi State by beating the Bulldogs 78-58 Wednesday night before 17, 927 fans at Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks (15-5, 4-2 SEC ) ended Mississippi State’s ninegame winning streak and pulled within one game in the West of the first-place Bulldogs (14-6, 5-1 ), who were looking to open up a three-game lead.

“We’re pretty happy, obviously,” Arkansas senior center Steven Hill said. “At the same time, we know we’ve got to go down there [to Starkville, Miss. ] and play them.”

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That’s why it was so vital for the Razorbacks to defend their home court against the Bulldogs.

“You can’t say enough about our fans,” Arkansas sophomore guard Patrick Beverley said. “They did a great job helping us get the win. I think our fans really did it for us tonight.”

Beverley and senior forward Sonny Weems did a lot for the Razorbacks, too, combining for 41 points and 16 rebounds.

Weems had 22 points and hit 5 of 10 three-pointers and grabbed 6 rebounds. Beverley had 19 points, a team-high 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

“When Weems and Beverley shoot the ball and score like that, they’re very difficult to match up with,” Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury said.

The Bulldogs held Arkansas to a season-low 36 percent shooting from the field — the average for Mississippi State opponents this season.

But the Razorbacks won because they got to the free-throw line and hit 25 of 30 attempts and because they outscored Mississippi State 26-4 in points off turnovers.

“We’re a great defensive team, and we finally decided that’s what we’re going to focus on,” Weems said. “We turned our defense into offense.”

Arkansas had 12 turnovers compared with 22 by the Bulldogs.

“I just thought the emotion of the building and playing on the road got to us,” Stansbury said. “We just didn’t have that offensive toughness you’ve got to have on the road.”

Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said Weems and Beverley were “special,” but that all the Razorbacks contributed to the team’s biggest victory of the season.

“I’m proud of all the guys in terms of how hard they played,” Pelphrey said. “We wanted to do the ordinary things even more, dive on the floor more, take more charges, rebound more, encourage our teammates more.

“ Tonight we had ‘it.’ It’s hard to put a finger on it sometimes.”

The Razorbacks played without senior forward Charles Thomas, who was suspended for the game by Pelphrey for breaking an unspecified team rule.

Thomas had started 16 games and is averaging 10. 5 points and 5. 1 rebounds. It was surprising the Razorbacks would beat Mississippi State by 20 points without him.

“It’s always good to have Charles here,” Weems said when asked about the final margin. “We probably would have beat them by 40 if Charles had been here. He’s a great player and we need him.”

Two big scoring spurts by Weems helped Arkansas take the lead for good in the first half and maintain it in the second half.

Weems scored 10 consecutive points to give the Razorbacks a 21-11 lead with 10: 08 left in the first half, and they were ahead to stay.

Mississippi State, which trailed 43-28 at halftime, opened the second half with an 8-0 run to pull within 43-36.

Then Weems scored on a rebound and hit a three-pointer to push Arkansas’ lead to 48-36 with 14: 53 left.

Mississippi State didn’t pull closer than 10 points the rest of the game.

Hill had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Sophomore forward Michael Washington, who started in place of Thomas, had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks.

The Razorbacks outrebounded the Bulldogs 41-35 and had 17 offensive boards.

“They out-toughed us tonight,” said Mississippi State junior guard Jamont Gordon, who had a game-high 24 points. “They beat us on the rebounds. They got shots when they wanted to. They just out-toughed us.”

Bulldogs junior forward Jarvis Varnado, who came into the game as the nation’s leading shot blocker at 5. 1 per game, wasn’t much of a factor. He drew two quick fouls and didn’t play the final 14 minutes of the first half, which is when the Razorbacks made their big move behind Weems.

Varnado finished with 1 point, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks in 24 minutes. Senior forward Charles Rhodes had 11 points and 15 rebounds for Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs hadn’t lost since Dec. 15, when they were beaten 71-67 by South Alabama, the team Pelphrey coached the previous five seasons before landing the Arkansas job last April.

“We weren’t at our best, and Arkansas had a lot to do with it,” Stansbury said. “Give Arkansas a lot of credit. l thought they played exceptionally well.”

Well enough to keep the Bulldogs from running away with the SEC West.

“It’s going to be a tight race,” Stansbury said. “We understand it’s a long way to the finish line.”